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The reasons for unsleeping night?

Hi there! I want to share with you one strange fact. I think that my daughter (2 years old) does not like to sleep!!!
I do not know what specialist think about that, but I can approve it. She always need something-she is hungry or thirsty, hot or cold, not to mention daily sleep. She still wakes up in the middle of the night and cry. I do not know what to do anymore. Please help!

2 year olds need about 13 hours of sleep each day. 10-12 hours at night, and 1-3 hours during nap time. If your daughter is not getting this much sleep it could be affecting her health.

Many people don't truly understand how very important rest is. Without proper rest and sleep, the body will become sick. But also, if the body is sick, it can create a situation where the child is restless and cannot rest peacefully.

Where does your daughter sleep at night? In your bed next to you? In your bed, but not next to you? In her own bed? Do you try to give your daughter a nap each day?

Do you breastfeed her to sleep? Does she take a bottle to fall asleep? Does she like to suck on a dummy / pacifier? Does she take her milk from a sippy cup or a regular cup now?

Anything you can add about your daughter's sleep patterns would be helpful.

It takes long time to fall asleep!

Hi Kate!

My daughter sleeps in her own bad, because I think that is better for her. Am I right?
I try to give her a nap each day, but she need much time to fall asleep, sometimes it takes one hour! She takes a bottle to fall asleep. When she was baby, I sang lullaby, but I have never hold her on my hands to fall asleep. I take her to walk, to play with other children. Each day she has a lots of activities to do, but she rarely gets tired and fall asleep at the moment. The hardest thing to me is that she need so much time to fall asleep. If you have some advice, please write it to me.

I would try adding in a nap during the day. You say you take her on walks and let her play with other children, so maybe she is not taking a nap during the day because she is getting too much stimulation. Instead of taking her on these outings, why not implement a rule wherein an hour of time a day is spent quietly lying on the bed in a dimly lit room. Chances are she will fall asleep and sleep begets sleep.

Also, make sure you are not giving her any caffeinated beverages during the day or lots of sugar, especially in the four hours prior to sleep/nap time. Turn off televisions, computers, and any other games an hour before bed as well and keep the house quiet and dark during this time.

She likely needs a good, calm routine to turn off her mind and get some sleep. Good luck!

Hi mom2many!
My daughter takes a nap every day, but you might be right about getting too much stimulation.
But you are totally right about beverages and lots of sugar few hours before sleep time.
Since she was born, my house is quiet during the time when she have to fall asleep, so that's not problem. Thanks!
Anni

I have stopped giving my daughter caffeinated beverages and reduce sweets. She always takes a bath before sleep time and she likes it. For the last two days she easy fall asleep, so I must say that I'm lucky now!

unsleeping night at one year old

Hi, my name is Nicole and i have a daughter of one year old and my main concern is that she's not sleeping well at night. She's always asking for her milk, not to mention that I've tried giving her tea but she doesn't even smell it that she already starts crying and I don't know what to do to make her sleep good. Please help me with advice

I've found that making the night time routine as relaxing and regular as possible really helps baby to sleep better at night.

Many babies who are a year old will breastfeed to fall asleep at night. This means they are getting some good protein (mother's milk) in their tummies, and this can help them to stay asleep longer at night. Your daughter may need milk before bed. I never offered my babies water or tea before bed. They needed the protein an calories in the milk.

You can also try offering a scrambled egg before bed, as this is protein and may help her to sleep longer as well.

If there has been a recent change in your daughter's routine or even in the stress level at home, this can affect sleeping patterns. Noise in the room and/or a room that is not pitch black at night can also trigger a child (and adults) to awaken in the middle of the night. If you can see your hand in front of your face at night, the room is not dark enough.

If you need to change your baby's nappie at night, try to keep the light as low as possible. Sometimes using a little flashlight is helpful. Again, the goal is to keep the lights low, and the noise off (no television at night) so that your baby can have a restful night's sleep.

Some children do really well with a bedtime routine which starts with brushing teeth, then bath time, then story time, and ending with prayers and sleep. If your child falls asleep watching TV, you'll want to avoid this and start a good, regular bed time routine. This may help her nervous system to relax so she falls asleep in her cot and sleeps longer.

Did your daughter sleep well before? When did she start waking in the middle of the night? Or has she always woken up throughout the night? Some babies who sleep with mum will smell their milk (if mum is breastfeeding) and will wake up to feed. It sounds like this may not be your situation, though.

Any further insight as to what you think may have caused this would be helpful. Has anything changed at home? Would you consider home to be a peaceful, happy place?

Thank you for your reply. She usually eats before bed time, she gets to sleep without TV or any other distraction. Over night is very quite in the apartment and dark, so even when I have to change her nappie at night I'm not turning the light on. We love her very much and our home is a really peaceful and happy place. She always had this program over night and about giving her milk before bed she doesn't wanna drink it, only during the night

You mention above that she mainly wants to drink her breastmilk at night-time, rather than in the day. Often children of this age are so interested in what is going on in the day that they find it hard to focus and have a good feed and then they make up for it in the night. I know this is the case with my 10 month old. There is so much happening in our house in the daytime (especially with my very active 2 year old entertaining us all) that he has his longest feed last thing at night and then after around 3-4 hours sleep.

If you think that this may be the case then you could try giving her a quiet feed in the day when the lights are low and things are quiet. You could also try breastfeeding your daughter whilst she is in the sling.

You also mention changing your daughter's nappy at night time. Is this because it is dirty or just wet? I only change my baby's dirty (i.e. pooey) nappies at night-time (which hardly ever happens these days) unless the nappy leaks or he seems unusually unsettled.

Actually some new things happen for 3 or 4 days now. She requests a bottle of milk before bed time and she drinks only another one but she splits it, like 300-350 ml of milk into 3-4 times. She sleeps rather good then she used to and I feel like my body gets some rest as well. So things are going for the better.